Kimber Steps Up
by wwarriorgirl
Summary: After a new foster girl comes to Starlight Mansion and puts an addtional strain on Jerrica's already full plate, Kimber decides she is going to be the one to finally help the sister who always helps everyone else.
1. Chapter 1

The social worker opened the car door for the little girl in the back seat. She cautiously got out of the car and looked up at the grand mansion in front of her. Anxiety which had been the background music of her life suddenly amplified and her hands shook and her knees knocked beneath her cut off shorts. The social worker with the overworked strained smile put a hand on the little girl's back.

"You'll be okay here I promise." She led the little girl up the drive towards the front door. Before they could make it to the door it opened and a young blonde woman opened the door. Her eyes were warm and blue and her smile was genuine.

"You must be Samantha." Jerrica said happily. Samantha nodded and clutched her book bag that held every stitch of her worldly possessions a little tighter against her chest. "My name is Jerrica Benton. Come on in." She reached out and Samantha eyed her hand wearily. Every time a hand had been held out towards her it had done something harmful or shameful to her. But there was something about this woman with the pretty earrings that made Samantha feel less fearful. She took Jerrica's hand and allowed herself to be pulled from the social worker into the huge house.

Inside the house was alive with commotion, girls her age and older were all over the place, talking, watching television, working with other adults on homework or in the kitchen helping with the dishes. "Are you hungry? The girls just finished supper, we can fix you a plate if you would like." Samantha looked up at Jerrica and shook her head.

"No thank you Miss Benton." She said softly. Jerrica knelt down in front of her.

"Samantha you can call me Jerrica." Samantha nodded and looked around. "Are you sure you aren't hungry?"

"I'm sure. Thank you Miss Jerrica." Jerrica gave a tight lipped smile, nodded, and showed her up the stairs and into her new room.

"Here you are young lady."

"This is all mine?" she asked after taking in the room with a bed and clean bed sheets and a dresser and a desk in the corner.

"Yes, it is all yours." Tears, which were always close to the surface, fell down the little girl's face.

"Thank you Miss Jerrica."

"When you get all of your clothes put away, come on down stairs and I'll introduce you to the rest of the girls." Samantha nodded and stepped a little further into the room. Jerrica left the door opened and the anxiety that had abated upon seeing Jerrica crept back into her body and her hands began to shake again.

XXXXXXXX

Jerrica was startled awake. She grabbed her robe, grabbed a bat, made sure her earrings were fastened tightly, she never knew when Synergy would be needed, and she began creeping down the stairs. She got to the bottom and looked left and right, looking for anything out of place. When seeing nothing, she started towards the kitchen area of the house and that was when she saw the light. She crept forward a little more and a little more until she was able to push the door open, and there she found, on her hands and knees, little Samantha. She was scrubbing the kitchen floor with only a rag and a mop bucket.

Jerrica put the bat down and walked in a little further. Samantha's back was toward her and she made a conscious effort to make a noise so the girl wouldn't be startled almost to death. As it was, Samantha startled and the rag flew from her hands and she drew her knees up to her chin in a defensive posture.

"It's just me." Jerrica said softly and got down on the floor with the small girl. "What are you doing?" she asked mirroring the girl's posture.

Samantha relaxed marginally and shook her head.

"You cleaning? When I'm upset I work. I don't care what kind of work, I just work. Are you like that?" she asked. Samantha's scared brown eyes darted to Jerrica and she gave a small nod. Jerrica nodded. "And usually when I'm upset I can't sleep either. It is awful. There was a week not too long ago I think I slept only an hour or two each night. I just had so much to worry about. You know what I mean?" This time the nod was a little bit stronger. "Then I opened up to my little sister. Kimber? You sat next to her at supper tonight. The one with all of that red hair and can talk until your ears fall off?" Samantha's face came up a little from where it was buried in her arms. "I love my sister. But once, when we were kids, I put in ear plugs because I just couldn't stand that chatter."

Jerrica stood and went to the drawer and pulled out another cloth and dipped it into the water that Samantha had made.

Jerrica got onto her hands and knees and began scrubbing the kitchen floor. "Truth of it is I couldn't sleep either. I was going to get up early and go to the office and work." She scrubbed circled around the island. "But this works too. Do you mind if I help you?"

Slowly the little girl unballed herself and shook her head. She grabbed the rag that she had thrown in her fright and dipped it into the water and went to the other side of Jerrica and began scrubbing circles.

"I had a bad dream." The newest Starlight girl confessed after some time of scrubbing.

"Oh?" Jerrica said nonchalantly.

"It scared me."

"What did you dream?" Jerrica asked.

"That my step dad came back from the dead and came after me." Jerrica heard the little girl scrub harder at the kitchen floor.

"Oh." Jerrica said softly. Samantha didn't talk any more. She and Jerrica spent the wee hours of the morning scrubbing the kitchen floor on their hands and knees. And when it was finished, Jerrica took the little girl's hand and led her to her bedroom and tucked her in.

"If you have any more bad dreams, knock on my bedroom door, and you can sleep in my room. Mean people can't get into my room. It's a bad person free zone." Samantha nodded. Jerrica took one last look at the little girl and left her to sleep, hopefully in peace.

XXXXXX

"Jem! What took you so long to drag yourself out of bed this morning?" Kimber asked when Jem drug herself into the Starlight Mansion's studio.

"Well, Jerrica was up all night with Samantha scrubbing the kitchen floor." Shana furrowed her eyebrows.

"Why?"

"She had a bad dream, and when she can't sleep, apparently she has to do something."

"I know a certain blonde woman who is very similar." Aja said with a laugh in her eye as she tuned her guitar.

Jem sighed and rolled her eyes towards Aja. "Yeah, and that certain blonde woman stayed up all night with Samantha and cleaned the kitchen floor. And because of that, I, Jem, am tired."

"You want to rehearse later?" Kimber asked.

"No. No. I'm good. We have a concert that needs to be prepared for. One or two sleepless nights aren't an excuse to shirk our responsibilities."

"You don't think that the floor cleaning session was a one night deal?" Shana asked.

"No. I don't. I think a lot happened to her before she got here and I don't think she's going to have an easy time of it."

"I'll get up with her next time." Kimber said. "Maybe that hot milk recipe mom used to make for us would do the trick."

"Maybe." Jem said and pushed pink bangs out of her eyes. "I know it took hours to wear her out cleaning."

"Did she say what the dream was about?" Aja asked.

Jem shook her head and said, "Just that her step dad came out of the grave and came after her."

"Did the social worker say anything before she dropped her off?" Kimber asked.

"No. She just said that she was quiet and hadn't been a problem at her other placement. But that they just had too many kids there and they asked that she be moved."

"Well, room we have. I just hope that we can help her too." Aja said.

"Me too." Jem took a deep breath and straightened herself up. "And we better get rehearsing, because without sales we can't feed the girls. So, we better get busy."

XXXXXX

That night all were in bed, and Jerrica was just putting the paperwork for the latest band she had signed to Starlight music into her bag and was turning out the light, when she heard Kimber in the hallway talking softly. Jerrica got out of bed, put on a robe, and went to her door.

"Miss Jerrica said that when I have a bad dream I can stay in her room." Jerrica heard Samantha say.

"Jerrica is asleep sweetie, why don't you come into my room." Kimber pled softly, trying to coax the little girl away from Jerrica's door.

"No." Samantha's voice seemed more strained and had a small frantic edge to it. "Miss Jerrica said I could go to her room when the dreams got bad." Kimber heard her sister's door open and she turned around. Jerrica stood there looking tired and worn. Her blue eyes had the light bruise under them of one who hadn't slept properly in several nights, and she looked thin inside her dark blue robe. Kimber struggled not to shake her head. Ever since Jerrica took on the Jem mantle, Jerrica looked tired and a little fried around the edges, and sometimes Kimber wished that she could take some of her sister's burden from her. And tonight, with Samantha standing in front of her, Kimber thought she could help her sister out, maybe allow her to get more than four hours of sleep put together.

"I've got her Jerrica." Kimber said softly urging her sister to go back to bed.

Jerrica shook her head and came out of the room, tied her robe tightly around her thin middle and went to Samantha, rested a hand on her shoulder, trying to tease the little girl's eyes open. "Samantha. It's Jerrica, you can open your eyes." She said softly. And slowly the vibrating little girl opened her eyes. When she saw Jerrica the intense anxiety eased a little as she looked up at Jerrica. "Did you have the dream again?" She nodded. "Kimber can take you downstairs and make you a glass of warm milk, it is what our mother gave us when we were scared and couldn't sleep."

"Yeah," Kimber said and knelt on the floor next to her sister. "I am really good at it. When Jerrica can't sleep, she has me make it for her too." Jerrica nodded, blonde wisps of hair escaping the headband that she had haphazardly thrown in her hair while she did paperwork.

Samantha cinched her eyes tight again and hugged the pillow tighter against her chest and shook her head violently.

Jerrica knew right then that any attempt Kimber made would be thwarted by this intensely anxious young lady. Jerrica couldn't let Samantha be so scared, even if it meant that she would lose another night's sleep, even if it meant getting to the office late, even if it meant drinking gallons of coffee so she could be as perky as the Jem persona would look tomorrow night at a promotional event. That little girl standing in front of the Benton sisters was why Jem even existed. That little girl was one of the now thirteen reasons that she and the others worked so hard. Jerrica turned her eyes to her flame haired little sister. She put a hand on Kimber's shoulder and with a soft smile she said, "I've got it Kimber."

"You sure sis?" Kimber asked wishing that she knew what to do, wishing she knew how to take at least one burden off of her sister's shoulders. But, again, like always, it was Jerrica taking care of everyone, and despite all of her attempts, Kimber wasn't able to help her sister….again.

"Yeah." She nodded to her little sister. "Come on sweetie, let's get settled down and see if you can sleep." Samantha finally opened her eyes, saw Jerrica's hand extended, and finally relinquished the death grip on her pillow and took Jerrica's hand and the two crossed the hall and went into Jerrica's room. Jerrica turned to her sister and mouthed 'thank you'.

Kimber shook her head. _Thanks for what?_ Kimber wondered. Her shoulders slumped and she turned and shuffled down the hall to her own room.

XXXXXX

"Where's Jerrica?" Shana asked the following morning after all of the girls had been sent to school.

"She left early for the office," Kimber said as she washed the morning dishes. "She was up all night with Samantha again. So God only knows how much sleep she actually has gotten this week."

"We've got to do something. She can't be burning the candle at both ends like this forever." Aja said as she dried the dishes that Kimber was washing.

"Don't you think I've tried to do something?" Kimber snapped, her own inadequacies rearing their ugly head. "Don't you think I want to do something for her?"

"Hey, hey Kimber. No one is accusing you of not trying." Shana reassured "You know Jerrica.."

"Yeah, once she feels like something is her responsibility she will see it through." Aja completed.

"Maybe if we encourage her to be Jem for a while…"

"What do you mean Shana?" Kimber asked looking up from the bowl she was washing.

"Well, when she's Jem she doesn't seem to feel that intense responsibility. She is a little bit more care free."

"She wouldn't do that. And if we pressure her, it won't help because she already has that weird jealously of Jem." Kimber added.

"True."

"Then what do we do?"

"There isn't anything really that we can do." Aja sighed. While the other Holograms went back to their respective chores, an idea formed in Kimber's mind, an idea, that might just work.

XXXX

The evening was a whirlwind. Jerrica didn't even come home from the office, she simply went to the party that evening, as Jem, and she mingled, she socialized, she smiled, and she played her part as if she had slept and hadn't worked all day. It made Kimber doubt that her sister needed the rest, made her second question the idea she wanted to propose to her sister, made her wonder if was more selfish than a desire to help her older sister who helped everyone else.

However, once inside the Rockin' Roadster, and the illusion of Jem removed, and Jerrica's silence, and watched as she fell asleep within minutes of removing the Jem mantle, that Kimber decided to propose the idea to her sister. But she would wait, she would wait until the morning, when Jerrica had slept, before she said anything.

However, for a third night in a row, the little girl needed Jerrica's attention, and another night went without sleep.

It was then that Kimber decided to take matters into her own hands.

XXXXX


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn't until after 11 when Jerrica awakened. She caught a glimpse of the clock and nearly fell out of bed in her hurry to get up.

"Oh God. I have a meeting today in twenty minutes." She grumbled to herself, as she raced for the bathroom to freshen up her hair and make-up and brush her teeth.

There was a knock on her door and she was trying to answer as she was tripping trying to put on her dress pants. Kimber stepped through the door and saw the disarray her normally put together sister was in, and she would have laughed if it hadn't been so sad.

"Stop sis."

"I have a meeting at 11:30. Could you please call my secretary and tell her that I will be just a little bit late." Kimber sat down on the bed, drew her legs into her body.

"No. I already called her this morning at around 8. I had her rearrange all of your meetings today." Jerrica's frantic dressing stopped suddenly and she stared at her younger sister.

"What?"

"I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine Kimber."

"And that's why you, who normally is up with the sun, is hopping around your bedroom at 11:15 in the morning trying to get dressed in time to get to a meeting? Jerrica. You're exhausted."

"I'm fine." She repeated.

"You're not."

Jerrica sank on the bed and for the briefest of moments allowed the exhaustion show in her face and her posture. "What else can be done? I have to run Starlight Music. We have a promotional tour coming up, I have to have things situated at the company before I mysteriously drop off the face of the planet while Jem is out promoting." She rubbed her forehead for a second, and then let out a sad laugh, "Oh wait, that's right, Starlight Music will call me with any problems, and no matter if I'm wearing a gown with pink hair teased to dramatic heights, or if I'm in my pajamas and in bed, I'll have to handle it. And then there is poor little Samantha." Tears began to well up in Jerrica's eyes. "What is Mrs. Baily going to do when the little one can't sleep? She's so scared of everyone. I don't know what to do for her and I can't not sleep for the rest of my life." Jerrica finally allowed herself to cry. "I don't know what to do Kimber." She sobbed. Kimber crawled across the bed and hugged her sister as she cried tears of frustration and sadness.

"You don't have to everything alone." Kimber whispered.

"No one else can do it. It's all my responsibility. I made this mess. I was the one who decided it would be a good idea to have two identities, I was the one who decided that we could handle all of the foster girls after dad died, I was the one who insisted on taking back Starlight Music. I should have just let Eric have it." She said through tears. That earned her a smack on the shoulder from her sister.

"Don't you dare say that Jerrica Benton! You made the best choices you could. You didn't do anything wrong, and this isn't a mess. This is just something that we need to sort out, we need to regroup, and give you some down time while we're at it."

"But how? We have an album to promote."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Jerrica turned to her sister, and for the first time since the conversation began Kimber was able to see her sister's face completely. Mascara was running down her face, pink eye shadow that was usually meticulously applied was all around her eyes and dribbling onto her cheek, and her eyes were bruised the bruise of lack of sleep, and her blue eyes were bright with tears and sadness. She reached around and hugged Jerrica tightly.

"I have an idea." Kimber said when she pulled back, wiping tears away from her own blue eyes.

"What?"

Kimber hesitated for a moment before she finally blurted. "What if I take on Jem for the promotional tour."

"Kimber you can't."

"You give me the earrings and I'll be Jem. We can project a hologram of me and we just won't play any songs."

"But Kimber…"

"I could do it Jerrica, let me help you."

"It isn't that simple." Jerrica said and gave a sad smile. "Jem isn't simply a hologram." Jerrica revealed.

"What are you talking about?"

"Haven't you noticed that when you put your arm around Jem that you can feel her hair?"

"I just assumed that I was feeling your hair, because it is a little longer than you used to wear it."

"But my hair doesn't go down to my tail bone Kimber."

Kimber's face was a mask of confusion. "I don't understand."

Synergy entered the room, thus the conversation. "Kimber, taking on the Jem persona would be painful for you."

"You guys aren't making any sense."

"The Jem persona has to be real. People touch her, apply make up to her, they style her hair, they have to touch the person, she can't be an illusion."

"But that's what you do…you create illusions Synergy."

Jerrica nodded. "She does. The clothes that she will dress you guys in, the stuff that she throws in the way of the Misfits, the extra persons she creates, copies of me, you the others, those are illusions. But Jem….Jem isn't."

"Your father programed Jem, he knew your sister well enough to know what she would do if her foster girls, you or the other were threatened. Your father knew that Eric would try to take over Starlight Music…"

"Then why did he let the weasel stay?!" Kimber asked angrily.

"Your father was working very hard to complete me, he didn't have the strength to handle Eric, he knew that Jerrica would take care of it. He knew that she would take on a persona to use her beautiful singing voice as a means of making money for the Starlight girls. He knew. And he programmed Jem differently."

"English." Kimber demanded.

"You know I wear a lot of clothes right Kimber?"

"Yeah, you've always liked long sleeves and layers."

"Some of the time I do that so Synergy has the material to use to make Jem. You see, she rearranged some of…" Jerrica reached for the words and then finally settled on "me. And she creates real hair, real clothes, real everything. When I'm Jem, it's like being the base of a paper doll. Jem goes over top of me, and clamps down into my skin, and becomes my skin. That way a stylist can do what she pleases, and that way cameras don't see when you guys put your arms around me, your arms going through Jem's hair. That's why when Rio kisses Jem he doesn't go through Jem's face to kiss her lips."

"Oh." Jerrica nodded.

"Yeah, it's more involved than simply pressing my earring and saying 'showtime'."

"And when Jerrica is exhausted or in pain, the Jem mantle is harder for her to wear."

"And it wears me out more. That's why I've been so drained this week. I can manage with lack of sleep, but Jem takes a little more out of me than I have."

Kimber's eyes were wide. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"What do you want me to say? No, we can't do that because I am tired and Jem makes me more exhausted? I didn't become Jem so I could whine, I became her to solve problems."

"But Jerrica…" Kimber said softly.

"It is what it is Kimber."

Kimber looked from Synergy to her exhausted sister and the resolution firmed inside of her. She extended her hand.

"Give me the earrings. Let me try."

"Kimber…"

"Let me try. If it is too much, I won't do it, but if it isn't, I want to do this for you Jerrica. I want to give you a break. I want you to have a week at least where you can be you, where you and Rio can go out, hang out, do Rio and Jerrica things, and let me and the others do this press tour. Let me handle something." Kimber's eyes drifted from her sister and she said softly, "Let me help you."

Jerrica looked at Synergy. "What do you think?"

"I think there is no harm in letting her try. We will be here to monitor if Jem is too much for her." Jerrica nodded. She unfastened the Jem star earrings and hesitantly handed them to her sister.

"Please be careful with these. They were the last birthday gift daddy ever gave me." She said softly, and for the first time in a long while, Kimber heard the voice of a sad little girl and not the strong confident woman that Jerrica always portrayed.

Kimber gently took the earrings from her sister and nodded. "I promise." She fastened them to her ears, they seemed heavier than they should have been. She got off of the bed and stood next to it. "All I do is say 'Showtime Synergy" ?"

Jerrica nodded. "Well here it goes." Kimber said before touching the earrings and calling for the Jem mantle.


	3. Chapter 3

Kimber felt the instant that she was becoming Jem. It felt like someone was trying to stuff her into a balloon that was two times too small. She fought to keep the scream inside, and to some degree she must have been successful, because when the pain went from intense and sharp to a dull ache, she opened her eyes, and stood straight. Jerrica, with the streaked make-up looking tired and fragile, wasn't demanding her to relinquish Jem back to her, she was just sitting on the bed looking like a tired momma bear checking over one of her cubs.

"You okay Kimber?" Jerrica asked when Kimber opened Jem's eyes. The whole situation was a little surreal for Jerrica, she had been Jem for so long, that she looked at it as a part of her, and to see her little sister wearing the face of the woman that had stared Jerrica in the mirror so many times was a little disturbing. However, she wouldn't break the gaze, wouldn't shy away. The others hadn't shied away from Jerrica when she had first changed, and had stayed Jem for extended periods of time, no matter how "odd" or "weird" it must have felt to be calling their lifelong friend and foster sister by a different name, and looking into violet eyes when normally they looked into blue, and to some degree, Jerrica admitted to herself, they not only had to deal with the physical changes, but they also had to deal with the personality difference as well. She was suddenly appreciating just how accepting and flexible her friends truly were.

"Give me a minute." Jem's voice said, and the sound startled Kimber a little. She hadn't expected to hear the voice she recognized as Jem coming from her mouth. She always assumed it was simply Jerrica pitching her voice ever so slightly lower than normal.

Kimber closed her eyes, regained her bearings and opened them again, and she fought to gain control over the pain. As the pain intensified, and she thought that she wouldn't be able to take up the Jem mantle, thought that she wouldn't be able to handle the physicality of taking this responsibility, all her mind's eye could see was her sister changing six or seven times a night to make sure everyone had the piece of her that they needed, of her sister spending night after night singing at the top of her lungs only to be bright and cheery the next day, and having to pretend that the sore throat that Jerrica had had nothing to do with the fact that she sang at the top of her lungs for hours the night before, was her sister who was so tired that she could barely keep her eyes open, was of her sister's overwhelmed face, of the smeared make-up, of the wrinkled clothes on a woman who normally took pride in her appearance. And those images fortified her, and gave her the strength to force the pain that was wracking her body into the back of her mind.

"I'm okay." Kimber said. "I can handle this."

"Are you sure?" Jerrica asked softly not certain she believed Kimber's words.

"Yeah." Kimber took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "She's heavy." Kimber finally said with a little chuckle.

Jerrica smiled. "She's very heavy. She's heavy in personality as well in body."

Kimber nodded. "I can do this for you Jerrica. I can."

"I know you can. But are you sure you want to?"

"You'd do it for me." Jerrica turned away and tried to keep the blush at bay. Kimber, wearing Jem, sat down next to her sister, took her hand and forced her to look at her. "I can do this for you sis. It'll only be for a week or two's worth of promotion. I promise I'll keep my temper in check, and I won't do anything to disgrace you or Jem."

Jerrica nodded and wiped at her eyes, and only succeeded in smearing more make-up across her face. "Come on sis, you need to take a nice long hot bath, clean up, and take a rest."

Jerrica looking down at her make-up smeared hands nodded and laughed. "I think you're right." The two stood, and Kimber was overcome with feeling that she was wearing a full body leotard that was four times too small, and reached up and touched the earring, whispered to Synergy, and returned to herself, and stretched.

"It isn't comfortable is it?" Jerrica asked as she headed towards the bathroom.

"I can handle it."

"I didn't say you couldn't. I said it wasn't comfortable."

Kimber paused, weighed the possible responses and finally said, "I've worn tighter clothes." Jerrica genuinely laughed for the first time in who knew how long.

"Like that outfit you tried to wear to your graduation…"

"Hey! That was really rockin'!" Kimber smiled, a small ounce of the spark that usually resided in Jerrica's blue eyes was back, and Kimber would take any amount of friendly jibes to keep that spark there, to keep her sister smiling, to keep her sister from looking so warn out and fragile.

"Sure. If you were a hooker." Jerrica shouted from the bathroom where she was undressing.

"Go get a bath!"

Jerrica's chuckle could be heard over the running water, and satisfied that her sister was going to pamper herself for a while, she decided that it would be safe to leave Jerrica to her bath. Kimber opened the door and found Mrs. Baily standing there with her fist poised to knock.

"Kimber!" Mrs. Baily said transferring the hand ready to knock to her chest. "You startled me!"

Kimber giggled. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. What's up?"

"Where's Jerrica?"

"She's in the bath." Just as the words came from her lips the water turned off and she heard the bathroom door open, and Jerrica's footsteps hurry behind her. Jerrica, despite her disheveled unkempt appearance went to the door, pulling her robe tighter against her.

When Mrs. Baily saw Jerrica her eyes went wide. "Oh, my!" She exclaimed. "Are you okay Jerrica?"

Jerrica wiped at her eyes, trying to get some of the pink streaked with black off of her cheeks and tried to smile. "I'm okay." Jerrica reassured. "Just over slept is all."

"That's not like you."

"I know." Kimber said. "I finally convinced her that she can stay home while Jem and the rest of us go on tour. She needs rest."

Mrs. Baily sighed. "And I'd love for you to get that rest. But one of the girls needs you Jerrica."

Jerrica straightened immediately, and her blue eyes grew intense with responsibility. "What's going on?"

"It's Samantha. She…well….the school called…." Mrs. Baily stuttered unable to find just the right words to describe the situation.

"Is she okay?" Jerrica asked immediately worried that the newest foster girl had been hurt.

"Physically she's fine." Some of the tension thrumming through Jerrica dissipated with that revelation. "She apparently just went….crazy at lunch today and she isn't calming down, she's pacing and fretting, and just in a state. They need us to pick her up. She doesn't respond well to me, and I was hoping…"

"Let me wash my face and I'll be right there to pick her up." Mrs. Baily nodded.

"We really have to figure out how to help that little girl." Jerrica nodded and sighed. That was going to be her number one priority while the others were off promoting the new album.

"Kimber, I'm going to go and get her, take her away from the house for a little while. I'll be back here no later than 7. Get Jem and the others and have them in the music room for a band meeting."

"Will do." Jerrica took a deep breath and smiled at her sister.

"Thank you Kimber." Kimber turned as she was heading out of the door, those three words held such meaning and weight.

"You're welcome sis." Kimber closed the door behind her.

**I hope you all are liking this story. Drop me a line and let me know what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

Jerrica got to the high school in record time, and to the principal's office even quicker. Once inside she found Samantha pacing the small room that had been set aside for her to cool off.

Samantha looked up immediately when the door opened and her pupils dilated in her taught features. Once she saw Jerrica she relaxed by a fraction.

"Miss Jerrica."

"Hello there Samantha." Jerrica knew enough now not to come close to her when something had completely freaked her out like this. "Are you ready to go home now?"

"Yes." She nodded as she said the word.

"Okay kiddo. Come on. Let's go." Jerrica smiled warmly and extended her hand and Samantha took it timidly and the two left the school.

Once in the car and buckled, Jerrica said, "I brought your gym shoes and thought that we could go for a walk down in the nature preserve. I thought that might help, instead of washing the floor again tonight."

"Okay." Samantha said shyly.

"You want to tell me what happened today?" Samantha stayed quiet. "You can tell me anything you know? I won't make fun of you, or make you feel stupid. You can talk to me."

There was a long silence and Jerrica sighed inwardly. She had been hoping that maybe just getting her away from an environment where others could be listening would help her open up.

Looking over at Samantha Jerrica realized that quite a bit of the nervous tension had eased out of the little brown haired girl since they had been driving. It gave Jerrica some hope that she might be able to get her to talk and thereby allowing Jerrica to get inside just enough to begin helping her—or at the very least finding someone qualified to help her. That's when it struck her. _Maybe she's afraid that whoever she tells will tell other people. Maybe that's why she isn't talking. _ Jerrica looked over at Samantha another time, trying to gauge the foster girl's emotional state, and when the look of her said that she might not try to jump out of a moving car if Jerrica asked any more questions she ventured to add, "And I promise," she tried in her most soothing and patient voice, "I promise that whatever you say will stay between us."

Silence. Silence was all that greeted Jerrica, and that silence was oppressive. Out of emotional fuel, and out of ideas, she fought not to take a deep breath and outwardly sigh—if for no other reason than to make a little bit of noise to break the weighty silence hovering around the two girls. "How about some music?" Jerrica asked when she couldn't take the silence any longer. She was just about to turn on the radio to fill the silence when Samantha asked softly, "Where are your earrings?"

"What?" Jerrica asked confused by the new direction of the conversation.

"Your pretty red star earrings."

Reaching a hand to one of her naked earlobes she smiled and said, "Kimber, my sister, she wanted to borrow them."

"You must trust her a lot."

Jerrica smiled, "She's my sister. Of course I trust her. But they are just earrings." She shrugged going for indifference despite the tension that had been pulling her stomach taut ever since she had given Kimber the earrings.

"I wouldn't trust anyone with something like that."

"They're just earrings." Jerrica repeated.

"You wear them all of the time Miss Jerrica. You even wear them to bed."

_You would know I wear them to bed._ Jerrica thought wryly. "I forget to take them out," she lied.

"They aren't just earrings. They are a part of you, and I don't know how you can trust anyone with something that special." Samantha said and turned to look back out at the passing scenery closing the conversation.

Jerrica glanced at her, there was no expression, no anything on the girl's profile that would help Jerrica understand the cryptic statement. Because they weren't talking about earrings, Samantha was trying to tell her what was wrong. Samantha was giving her pieces of the story, to her story, and it was up to Jerrica to put the puzzle together, She just hoped that she would be able to figure it out before the girl self-destructed.

XXXX

It was after seven when Jerrica joined the others in the music room. "Did you wear her out sis?" Kimber asked plunking keys in a random melody.

"Gosh I hope so. We walked the nature reserve for over two hours," she said as she sat down on the stool in front of the microphone.

"Did she tell you what was wrong?" Raya asked.

"No. Not really."

"We're going to have to do something, you won't be here for two weeks and if Mrs. Baily can't even get her to eat without you, this won't go well." Shana said.

"I know." Jerrica said and turned on the stool to face the rest of the group. "And that's why I'm not going to go on the tour."

Shocked faces greeted the statent and a breathless chorus of "What?" echoed in the room. Only Kimber said nothing, looking down at her hands as they caressed the keys.

"Jerrica! Jem has to be there," Aja said trying to reason with her friend, because obviously she was out of her ever loving mind if she thought that they could promote their new album without their vivacious lead singer.

"She will be there." Jerrica said with a sigh. "Kimber has my earrings. Kimber will be Jem for the tour."

Three sets of eyes swung towards Kimber and Kimber fought not to cover her ears with her hair, fought to look at them, fought not to look embarrassed.

"Jerrica, we can't simply trade one Benton for another!"

"I know Aja. I know. But I need to be here, I'm exhausted and I can't do it. And Kimber graciously offered to take the responsibility. Just this once. Just for this tour."

"But…But…Kimber isn't anything like Jem." Shana said.

"I know."

"She doesn't sound like Jem." Raya chimed in.

"I know."

"She can't answer questions like Jem." Aja said.

Jerrica put her hands up. "I know. I know all of this. Kimber knows all of this. This is why are talking about this now. This way I can get her prepped and ready to do this. Synergy will take care of her voice, she will make sure she sounds like Jem both speaking and singing." Jerrica looked over to her sister and smiled warmly. "She can do it guys. I trust her, I have faith in her that she won't do anything to disgrace me, Jem, or you guys."

"Jerrica needs this." Kimber finally said. "Samantha needs her. And I want to do this for her. Jerrica always takes care of me, whether I want her to or not. She takes the brunt of my anger, my impulsiveness, my jealousy, all of it. And she never made me feel guilty or bad or stupid, and guys…" Kimber threw her hands up trying to find the words, trying to find the right way to explain. "Jerrica needs a break. Something has to give. And I want to do this for her. I promise I'll do my best."

"We know you will Kimber." Aja said after a beat. "But…what are we going to say when you aren't there."

"That's what holograms are for." Jerrica smiled tiredly.

"You really think we can pull this off?" Shana asked.

"We can pull anything off. We've done more outrageous things before."

"True." Raya replied.

"I need you guys to be behind her 200%. It's going to be really difficult for Kimber, and she is going to need your support."

Raya, Aja, and Shana looked from one Benton sister to another, then they all looked at each other. "We're a band and most importantly we're all friends." Aja finally said. "Band mates like friends support one another. We'll do whatever we can." Jerrica nodded.

"Good. Now. I need sleep. Tomorrow we start showing Kimber how to be Jem."

"Shouldn't that be your job?" Shana asked.

"Hey, I know what it looks like from the inside, you guys can give her more perspective on the outside." Jerrica gave a short laugh and then groaned. "Tomorrow, we begin, now, I need sleep, before Samantha wakes me up in four hours and needs to run or clean, or sit and stare, or something that involves me being awake. Goodnight everyone."

"Night Jerrica." They chorused. When they door shut they all looked at Kimber.

"You sure about this kid?" Aja asked.

"I'm sure."

"It's a pretty awesome thing for you to be doing for your sister." Shana said.

"She's been good to us. She deserves this." Kimber said and sighed. "She needs this."


End file.
